Semiconductor signal translating device



Dec. 22, 1953 s. DARLINGTON 2,663,806

SEMICONDUCTOR SIGNAL TRANSLATING DEVICE Filed May 9, 1952 o 6 FIG.

PLASTIC ENCASEMENT I24 6/ /9 /5 b N N /?B IIHCZ M m ME7I4L PLA TING -AM, 24 M OUTPUT lNl/EN TOR 5. DA RL lNG TON ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 22, 1953 SEMICONDUCTOR SIGNAL TRAN SEATING DEVICE Sidney Darlington, Passaic 'lfownship, Morris -ooamy, N. J assignor to Bell Telephone Lab oratories, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a. corporation of New York Application May'9v, 1952, SeriafNo. 283,914

10 Claims. 1

This invention relates to signal translatm' defvices and more particalarl y to such senses of the type known as transistors.

Transistors comprise, in general, a body of semiconductive material and three connections, termed the emitter, base and collector, to the hotly. Two recognized classes of transistors are the point contact, of which those disclosed in Patent 2,524,035 granted October 3, 1950 to 3. Bardeen and W. Brat'tain are ill'iis'tra'tiye, and the jiinct'ion, of which those disclosed in l a'tent 2,568,347 granted September 7 25-, 1 951 to Shockley are illustrative. Transistors of both kinds may be classified. further as to conductivity type, that is N or P. In N-type point contact device, the bulk of the semiconductiv'e body is of N conductivity type; in an N -type junction transistor,the intermediate zone, i. e. the one with which the emitter and collector zones forr'n mnetiofl, is Of N con uctivity Hilde. In P-type transisters; the bulk of the may, in point Contact deor the intermediate 'z'ohe, iii fi ilnct ioh devices, is of P condiictli itfi typ'.

In the mums-non of transistors, a number of What may be considered as circuit parameters or aspects are (if prime moment. Anibflg and mustrative of such paramet rs are the current mult-iplicatmn factor, commonly designated alpha, and th emitter and collector reSliStahe-S. In general, desired values, within limits of course, for one or more of these parameters may be obtained for a particular application by control oi or operation upon physical characteristics of the transistor employed. For example the case of junction type transistors say of" PNP configiilration, the current multiplication factor alpha is less thannnity. It is dependent upon ahuniber 6f controllable factors, S11E11 /S the'width of the intermediate zone, but the control entails some practical difficulties and thus involves a definite, and in some cases a major economic aspect. simiia'rly; the emitter and collector res stances" are amenable to control by design but the com trol is subject to practical and economic limitations.

Further, heretofore because or inherent prope ties of semiconductor t anslating as 'c'es, some desired circuit characterist cs h ve sen difficillt 6i imeossibie to achieve Witli single transistors, 6i 'Vii with combinations of transistors unless expedite attainment or but not exceeding unity for junction transisters, to simplify the construction or transiswr fimts comprising, two or more elements, to enhance flexibility or operation and iitilizationof we tors, and to reduce the cost of promis ng ram sister units having prescribed ciiciiital imam eters. V p In accordance with ne feature or this tron, two tr-ansismrs or like conductivity type correlated to produce an e ui alent sing e ti-ansistor having operating characteristics different in time or scanty or both from these or tern the component in she illustrative embodiment pi this invii tio'n, atranslatmg device compr ses pair or similar jun'c tiontr'ansis'tors' the collector zones or which are electrically integral and the base zone or oneof which is use irectly to the emitter zone or the other. murmum connections are prb viaed to' 'the "other einitter and base zones. f fhe device constitutes n quivmem ihme transistor having emitter and ant ater su sw n; tiallii equal to those of "one of the contestant 35 transistors, but havinga current multiplication factor substantial-y greater than that of either 1 11 y intonation, for example as to the beer t: ing point, is realized. A I

In other em "*oimem' 'dnie'renr pairs of the; einit r, ase afiacbneetor correctness are t a together electrically to produce aavahtagsiis tarromance characteristics. a a

The invention and tli atioi' noted see other feature t ereof will be understood mere 'la'rly' 5-3 and funy from the following detailed asefi stree 3 with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a transistor illustrative of one embodiment of this invention;

Fig. 2 is a schematic showing the association of the transistor elements in a device of the type illustrated in Fig. 1;

Figure 2A is a diagram representing the equivalent single transistor of the combinations portrayed in Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 3 illustrates a modification of the device represented in Fig. 2;

Fig, 4 depicts another embodiment of this invention wherein the emitters of the component elements are tied together directly;

Fig. 4A is a diagram representing the equivalent single transistor for the embodiment depicted in Fig. 4;

Fig. 5 illustrates a modification of the device shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 illustrates another embodiment of this invention wherein the emitter of one transistor component is tied directly to the base of another;

Fig. 6A depicts the equivalent single transistor for the combination illustrated in Fig. 6;

Fig. '7 represents a modification of the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 6; and

Figs. 8 and 9 portray another embodiment of this invention including three transistor elements.

In the drawing, for facility of identification the emitter, base and collector terminals'have been indicated by the letters e, b and respectively.

In devices constructed in accordance with this invention, advantageously the semiconductive ma.. terial, for example germanium or silicon, is of single crystal structure. Suitable single crystal material may be produced in one way as disclosed in the application Serial No. 234,408, filed June 29, 1951 of E. Buehler and G. K. Teal. Also, as indicated hereinafter, in some embodiments of the invention advantageously the transistor elements are enclosed in a plastic encasement. Such encasement may be effected in the manner disclosed in the application Serial No. 198,294, filed November 30, 1950 of J. V. Domaleski, E. L. Gartland and J. J. Kleimack.

Referring now to the drawing, the transistor illustrated in Fig. 1 comprises a body ID of semi conductive material, for example germanium or silicon, having an N conductivity type zone II, a pair of like N conductivity type zones I2A and IZB and a pair of like P conductivity type zones I3A and I3B each interposed between and defining junctions with the N zone II and the respective N zone IZA or 1213. The body may be fabricated for example by slotting a slab of NPN configuration and produced in the manner disclosed in the application of Buehler and Teal referred to hereinabove.

Metallic platings I4, for example in the form of copper or rhodium coatings, are applied to the N zones II and I2 whereby substantially ohmic connections may be made in these zones. Sub-1 stantially ohmic connections are made also to the two P zones I3, for example in the manner disclosed in the application Serial No. 228,483 filed May 26, 1951 of W. Shockley. It Will be evident that the semiconductive body with the connections thereto comprises two like transistor units each of NPN configuration, the units having a common collector zone i I, individual emitter zones 12 and individual base zones i3.

*As shown in Fig. 1, the emitter zone I2A of one unit is tied directly by a conductor I to the P zone I3B of the other unit. Thus, there is provided a unitary or equivalent single transistor having emitter, base and collector terminals or connections I6, I! and I8 respectively.

The electrical equivalent of the compound transistor illustrated in Fig. 1 is portrayed in Fig. 2 and one equivalent single transistor is of the form depicted in Fig. 2A. For the single equivalent transistor the significant performance characteristics are represented by the following equations:

rezemitter resistance rbzbase resistance rc=collector resistance lco collector current with zero emitter current lezemitter current I=collector current ve emitter voltage VczCOllGCllO! voltage andt the subscripts 1 and 2 refer to the component uni s.

Particularly to be noted among these characteristics is the high value of the current multiplication factor, alpha, that may be realized. For example, in the case of NPN units, if alpha equals 0.9 for each unit,-alpha for the single equivalent transistor is 0.99. Also, for example, if alpha for the individual units is 0.99 then the multiplication factor for the equivalent single transistor is .9999. If the current multiplication factors of the individual units vary, the alpha of the equivalent transistor varies relatively little. Specifically, variability in (l-ai) or (la.2) produces a like percentage variability in the relatively small quantity (la).

This may be explained as follows: The current In flowing out of the base of a transistor is Ie+Ic, where Ia and I0 are currents flowing into the other electrodes (emitter and collector). If we consider only the variations in lo and Ic, which define current gain a, and if we assume a collector load impedance small compared with RC, Ib becomes (1a)le.

Accordingly, current (1al)Ie1 flows out of the base of unit I, and (1-a2)Ie2 out of the base of unit 2. In the triode mounting Iel is constrained to be the base current Ib2. Hence (l-a1) (1a2)Ie2 flows out of the base of unit I. In addition IeZ is constrained to be the current Ie into the equivalent emitter terminal and Ibl is constrained to be Ib. Hence flows out of the equivalent base, and is equivalent to (1a)1'e2 The operating points of the two component units cannot be chosen independently, nor can they be the same for the two units. One restriction requires the collector-to-emitter voltage of unit I to be equal to the collector-to-base volta e f un t 2- H w v r. ,i;it -.ba e o1tas s a e usuallvsmaii, and thus-bot coii e to t s s are rou hly equal- T s is a reason bl p ng ond ti n.-

With the triodemounting, there is also a relation be ween the u rents at the ope a s po nts- As noted above, Iel=Ib2. "When total current "is considered, h so-oall rift cu nt oz'm be no udedias we l a the variati ns i urrent which define a. Then, assuming again a load impedance small compared with Re, 1102 becomes .(1- .a z)1 c2+ 1ico2. This current is used as In, .and must be negative. sll'lce'Icoz ispositive, I z'rnust not only be negative, but also large enough so that -1.@zi JIez more than comp tes fo z- ".Ihe restricti n on th bias currents w c ay be utilized can be reduced or avoided by the provi ion of ano her conn t n as illustr d in F g.- 3 Sp ifica l as h wn in i fi re, a auxiliary lead 20 is provided as a common conne tion to t ase of o e unit and the emit of the other. This connection 20 may be "utilized to suP,P11y additional negative current to the emit- 'ter 61,- If this current is supp d through a h h impedance, the alpha of the equivalent signal transistor will not be degraded significantly.

A thou h the transisto s o the confi ur n depicted'in Figs. 2 andfi have been described with particular reference to junction transistors and to such fabricat d from a si gl s mi-con u t body or slab, similar devices composed of separate junction units or of separate point contact units such as described in the Bardeen- Brattain patent heretofore identified obviously are Within the purview of this invention.

In the embodiment of this invention illustrated inFig. 4, the emitters of the two like units are tied together and the-collector of one unit is tied directly to thebase of the other by the connector I5. Emitter, base and collector leads I6, I! and I8 respectively are provided as shown, it being noted that the base lead extends from the two emitters in common. This is because a correspondence between the emitter of the equivalent single transistor, depicted in Fig. 4A, and the component emitters, i. e. those of the two units, involves a phase relation which makes the collector resistance Rc negative.

The units of the embodiment shown in :Fig. 4 maybe of either the junction or the point contact type. For example, in one form the semi- .conductive body may be of the construction'illustrated in Fig. 1, with the N zone H serving as the common emitter zone and the zones l2 constituting the collector zones.

When the units are of NPN configuration, the parameters of the transistor portrayed in Figs. 4 and 4A are given by the relations:

gain, indicated by alpha, may be very large. Also, it is noted that the emitter resistance Re of the of the two units.

compound transistor is greater than that of either the component units whereas the'collector resistance Re is smaller. Also the base resistance Rb is very small.

As in the case of the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 2, in that shown in Fig. 4 a limitation on bias currents obtains. This restriction may be reduced, if desired, by providing an additional biasing lead 20 as illustrated in Fig. 5.

In the embodiment of the invention portrayed inFig. 6, two transistor'units, of like characteristics and of either the junction or point contact "type, are employed as in the embodiments described hereinabove. However, as shown Fig. 6, the emitter of one unit is tied directly to the base of the other 'by'the conductor I5, and the base of the first is tied directly to the collector of thesecond by the conductor l5. Base and'collector leads 1'! and 18 individual to the emitter of one unit and the collector of the other respectively are provided as shown and thethird, emitter, lead is provided to the connected base and. emitter of the two units. The equivalent single transistor is depicted in Fig. 6A.

For the case of units of NPN configuration, theparameters of the equivalent single transistor are given by the following relations:

n) ace- 2 M It will be noted that the constants for the equivalent single transistor are very similar except for the emitter resistance to those for component unit 2, provided that alpha for unit .I is

substantially unity. However, a feature of the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 6A is that the drift currents for the .two component units tend to cancel in the collector lead I8. Such cancellation is realized to the fullest extent when .the emitter lead I6 is 'fed through a high impedance.

For the device illustrated in Fig. .6, the current bias restrictions are akin to those for the other embodiments heretofore described and may be reduced through the agency of an additional lead l8 extending to the connected collector and base To assure good drift current cancellation, this lead should be supplied through a high impedance.

In some applications, the auxiliary lead l8 may be used as the input signal supply. In this case, unit I functions solely as a drift current balancing element.

Although the invention has been described thus far with particular reference to transistors composed of two units, it may be utilized also in devices comprising a greater number of units. One illustrative embodiment including three units having their collectors common and base and emitter connected as in the embodiment disclosed in Fig. 1 is shown in Fig. 8. Fig. 9 shows how this device may be biased for grounded emitter operation, typical values of bias being indicated.

Two particularly advantageous features of the multiple unit transistor portrayed in Fig. 8 are to be noted. First, for the case of NPN units, the current multiplication factor, alpha, for the transistor is even closer to unity than for a two unit device of comparable units. Secondly, it will be appreciated that the three unit transistor of Fig. 8 provides two auxiliary leads l6 and I6" whereby appropriate biases may be applied. This reduces the bias current limitations discussed hereinabove. Further, it avoids voltage restrictions which may be encountered in some cases. For example, in the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 4, it is necessary that the collector to emitter voltage of unit I substantially match the base to emitter voltage of unit 2. This in turn necessitates either a low voltage level for one unit and a high voltage level for the other, or both. This design restriction is avoided by use of a three unit structure such as represented in Fig. 8.

It will be appreciated that the invention provides transistors of novel and advantageous performance characteristics, characteristics which either are unattainable with single unit devices or are quantitatively superior to those obtainable with single unit devices.

Although specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be understood that they are but illustrative and that various modifications may be made therein with out departing from the scope and spirit of this invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A signal translating device comprising a pair of transistors of like conductivity type and each including a base, an emitter and a collector, means directly connecting the collectors together, means directly connecting the emitter of one transistor to the base of the other, and individual electrical connections to the other emitter and base.

2. A signal translating device in accordance with claim 1 comprising an additional electrical connection to the connected emitter and base.

3. A signal translating device comprising a pair of transistors of like conductivity type and each including a base, an emitter and a collector, means directly connecting the emitters together, means directly connecting the collector of one transistor to the base of the other, and individual electrical connections to the other collector and base.

4. A signal translating device in accordance with claim 3 comprising an additional electrical connection to the connected collector and base.

5. A signal translating device comprising a pair of transistors of like conductivity type and each including a base, an emitter and a collector, means directly connecting two like electrodes of said transistors together, means directly connecting another electrode of one transistor to an unlike electrode, other than one of said like electrodes, of the other transistor, and individual electrical connections to the remaining electrodes.

6. A signal translating device in accordance with claim 5 wherein said transistors are of the junction type.

7. A signal translating device in accordance with claim 5 wherein said transistors are of the point contact type.

8. A signal translating device comprising a body of semi-conductive material having therein a first zone of one conductivity type, a pair of spaced zones of the opposite conductivity type contiguous with said first zone and a pair of zones of said one type each contiguous with a respective one of said first pair of zones, and remote from the other, means electrically connectin one of said first pair of zones to the one of said second pair of zones remote therefrom, and individual electrical connections to said first zone, the other of said first pair of zones and the other of said second pair of zones.

9. A signal translating device in accordance with claim 8 wherein said first zone is of N conductivity type.

10. A signal translating device comprising three transistors of the same conductivity type and each including an emitter, a collector and a; base, means directly connecting the collectors together electrically, means connecting the base of one transistor directly to the emitter of a second transistor, means connecting the base of said second transistor to the emitter of the third transistor, and individual connections to the emitter of said one transistor and the base of said third transistor.

SIDNEY DARLINGTON.

References Cited in the file 01" this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,476,323 Rack July 19, 1949 2,569,347 Shockley Sept. 25, 1951 2,585,078 Barney Feb. 12, 1952 2,586,080 Pfann Feb. 19, 1952 2,595,496 Webster May 6, 1952 2,595,497 Webster May 6, 1952 

